Two Become One
by Knight Watcher
Summary: All held the finite and infinite as unrelated. None could foresee that the history of the two would become one. - Loading Quote, AC: Zero. One man's search for the legendary Cipher, the Demon Lord, is only the beginning of the two who become one.
1. Cipher

Location: Republic of Delarus, Year: 2005

In every generation there is one that stands out above the rest, someone unexpected, one that defies all odds, and the pilot and the plane become a single entity. The skies held the finite and infinite making them seem separate. None could foresee that the history of the two would become one. This is often true of the legends that amass around the entity of pilot and plane so if one had seen them together, one had seen a mixture of mortal and metal, a mesh of fabric and wings, fingers and weapons are only tools, and the music in its beautiful and bittersweet taste is the legacy of the two as one. Perhaps one should stop before romanticizing a profession that usually compels the pilot to one day disappears, to leave the legacy to the next two as one, but for as for me I had begun my search for a legend. The legendary Demon Lord, the Demon of the Round Table, and one might ask why search for someone who does not wish to be found, but again my curiosity always got the better of me even as a child.

I had after all seen the footage of that time stopping day, when Belka set off seven tactical nukes within their own borders, obliterating seven cities and twelve thousands lives in less than a heartbeat, quicker than a blink, and faster than an exhale. Nobody could find the words, all they could do is hope to act fast enough to end the war, officially it ends at Lumen, but like all wars, there are secrets, files classified, and people told to keep quiet. A decade later armed with sparse information I began my investigation in Offensive Campaign No. 4101. The war had been going badly for those opposing Belka including the breakaway Republic of Ustio, which had been largely occupied by the time the Offensive took off.

Ustio Air Force barely deserved the name after 90% of its numbers were wiped out leaving a meager force so they turn to foreign mercenaries to bolster their ranks. The pilot that would become the Demon Lord is said to be among them and is made part of the 66th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 6th Air Division, there seem a hellish anecdote from the start if one believes in angels and demons. The infamous and famous pilot is brought together with another mercenary pilot who had been longer in this conflict and of course this veteran is Larry Foulke, call sign Solo Wing Pixy. My interviews are likely to begin with him if I could find him.

His name virtually faded into oblivion though of course his actions after the seven nuke detonations certainly made him more enemies than allies, but when I finally met Larry, he held no resentment towards his former wing man whose call sign was Cipher as I had found out. Some still think of Cipher as purely a legend brought on the battlefield to rally the demoralized Allied Forces including the Ustians. The Ustians even went so far as to build a monument in honor of Cipher, but of course it is small, not meant to stand out even for a legendary pilot like Cipher.

"You are here about Cipher aren't you?" he asks with unexpected certainty.

"How did you guess?" I reply to him.

"For the longest time it was either what was it like flying with the Demon Lord or how could you betray the Demon?"

"Well how did it feel?"

"You better start recording because this will take awhile, not just with me, but any other pilots still around from those days. As for Cipher, we barely met before the Belkans roll out a welcoming party."

"They were planning to shut down the last pocket of Ustian resistance?"

"Right, well we went up as the Galm flight. Cipher becomes the lead and I became Galm 2. I might have had complaints about going second fiddle to an unknown yet by something felt different from the start with this one."

Foulke pauses almost as if caught up in memory, and I expect the others might do the same whoever and wherever they are now. He had a peculiar smile on this face too.

"Did you know...there are three kinds of aces? They are those who seek strength, those who live for pride, and those who can read the tide of battle. Those are the three. And Cipher was a true ace."

I felt like a kid on holiday waiting for my presents or someone eagerly listening to a story that never has been told in such detail before. He begins the tale with the Belkans attempting to bomb out the last pocket of the Ustian Air Force, but he and Cipher were on hand that day. It is the day would turn the tide of war against the seemingly endless advance of the Belkans in every direction. Cipher for better or worse would become the talk of mess halls, crew rooms, intelligence files, and eventually the pilots in virtually every well known squadron among the virtually invincible Belkan Air Force.

Valais Air Base is the final Ustian Air Base in service on their front line as of early 1995, built around the hinterland of Tyrann Mountains. During peacetime, its main tasks were routine border patrol and airspace surveillance. However with the aggressive all-out assault on multiple nations that border Belka, Ustio is most vulnerable insofar as it being a breakaway from Belka less than a decade earlier. Belka typically could be seen on top as it put out everything it could muster and nobody seem quite able to stave off their ferocity yet sometimes the most unlikeliest people in the most atypical of places tips the scale.

Mercenaries who a losing streak could be broken by them thought who am I talk about shifting fortunes in war yet they merely made others belief in the seemingly impossible because especially Cipher did things that many thought impossible for a plane or a pilot to do. I almost think by those amazing feats alone Cipher lives up to the call sign in essence an enigma that seems impossible to work out, but the pieces are all here.

"Anyway it was a cold, snowy afternoon in April 1995, we were sent up to shoot down the bombers on a strafing run to obliterate Valais, which would seal Ustio's fate…"

A two plane flight is virtually unheard of today except back then planes always took off in even numbered flights, well almost all then anyway, but Galm was not seen as a threat, they were quite literally the underdogs despite Foulke already having the reputation of bringing a fighter back on only one wing thus Solo Wing Pixy is born as a call sign for Larry Foulke. Seasons vary from nation to nation and Ustio even to this day is still well like its self-proclaimed legendary Cipher. Ustio has a mountain range that covers the length of the small country. This accounts for the alpine and tundra conditions in the south near the mountains. The B7R is more arid, forming the craggy canyons. Directus is instead more temperate unlike the other regions.

I rarely saw much from the air except when flying in charter flights during this investigation I found myself marveling at the landscape and wonder if this is why pilots fall in love with flying.

I try to imagine the description of that April afternoon when Pixy first took flight with Cipher.

* * *

A/N 1: Told from P.O.V. of Brett Thompson in this segment. Meets Larry in Delarus.

A/N 2: Not sure if I'm making Cipher, male or female, he's listed as male, but who knows its fanfic after all.


	2. Potential

Location: Valais Airbase (VAB), Tyrann Mountains, Ustio; Date: April 2, 1995

Background Files: Valais Counterattack, Pilot Journals and VAB Personnel.

The Blitzkrieg had taken many nations by surprise because of its speed as the Belkans quickly overran all opposition in their path. They put up every plane available to begin their massive preemptive strike and nobody knew what was going on until it was over. The preemptive airborne campaign hit the Republic of Ustio the hardest of all. Ustio is a small country in comparison to many of its neighbors so it didn't take long for the Belkan Army to follow up the BAF strike force. The lightning aerial attacks rapidly whittled down the meager Ustian Air Force and only its far flung air fields had any chance to shore in preparations for the attacks that were sure to come there before long. The occupied Ustian government capitulated to the Belkan Army that came directly to Directus, but they had in secret authorized the UAF to contract mercenary fighter pilots regardless of cost.

It didn't take long to draw the mercenaries in once word got out. They were not from any one nation, but multiple countries that had fared better during the Blitzkrieg or had not been affected at all as far as the Valais paymasters knew upon meeting the pilots. National and political ties were secondary to the pilots' ability to do whatever is asked of them. It is debatable to wonder what really motivates mercenaries. Some would say its pride in the rules that keep them alive, some call it precognition that reverses the flow of combat outcomes, and for others it is confidence from ability that ensures that only they will fly away every battle alive. This is how aces define aces regardless of whether the aces are allies or enemies because such twists only matter when they are made to matter at all.

A weather beaten yet well kept F-5E-II Tiger rests besides its presently more famous or infamous counterpart, a F-15C. One would wonder what prompts a pilot to fly a certain plane, but this is where one cannot understand except perhaps when airborne in the frenzy of aerial combat. The plane is only an extension of the pilot's essence, the pilot's marksmanship's, and perhaps what the pilot believes in or fights for up there in the realm where you either return or you do not, not to say one should believe in such absolutes. What records have shown is that Cipher had flown a range of planes except there were a few defaults and virtually all the money paid to Cipher is given away though enough is kept to live on as well as maintain an array of acquired planes. She did not profiteer off her exploits yet she did have a legend, a ghost chasing her for the rest of her years in the cockpit.

The story is relatively well known about Pixy's F-15C or more specifically why one wing is entirely red, even Cipher had heard the story, Pixy or Foulke had flown the F-15C or Eagle back to base on one wing hence Solo Wing Pixy. The new wing took plenty of time to fit to the rather beaten up plane yet once attached, Foulke spent hours coating the wing in red paint. The act seems perplexing to most even among the pilots yet Cipher could see why, it is a reminder and a warning though some might see as it arrogance and flipping off other pilots. Cipher is already in her flight suit by the time word comes down that a Belkan bomber squadron is inbound on with a deployment of fighters for escorts. She carries her helmet and of course to Foulke's surprise, his new wingman, is not a man at all, something that he'll admit later to be a shock until he saw what she can do with a plane impresses him more. Both climb into the cockpits after pacing to the hangar, the ground crew directs them to the runway, the snow is making it hard to see the runway lights, so Foulke takes the lead using the afterburner on lowest setting possible to guide Cipher to the takeoff point.

The alert had come down quickly about the approach of Belkan aircraft plus this is one of the last Ustian holdouts. There is a sense of desperation in the air as some are afraid yet there is a defiance even with Ustians having mercenaries flying off to fend off this assault. Winters seem forever in Tyrann yet having an airbase near mountainous terrain does that except of course nothing could quite rival the weather common to Heierlark, which is an almost endless winter like conditions for most of the year.

The crews however were not content to resign themselves to waiting for the bombs to drop, for the base to fall down on their heads, if they were going to die today, then they would face it with whatever made them different from the Belkans despite the political technicalities that had followed them out of breaking away from Belka in 1988.

* * *

"It is starting to come down," notes Pixy.

A snow storm would be one of those wonders to behold under other circumstances, but still he had to wonder what did Cipher see when she saw these snowflakes fluttering down towards the ridges below them.

The Galms continue on course towards the vectors where the bombers are expected to pass through on their way to Valais.

**_"Cipher, you are now Galm 1 and Pixy is Galm 2, you will follow the flight lead's orders,"_** radios Valais Actual.

"Understood Actual, whenever you are ready Cipher, here they come now."

"Tag 'em and bag 'em, by the numbers."

The Galms had some backup yet they were more or less on their own once the control tower indicates their flight name and call numbers. Cipher barrels towards the escorts snipping out two F-5s in less than a minute. She gone Fox Two on the two planes before they had much time to dodge the shots. One explodes, the other limps away, and she moves on like a precision instrument or something else that lacks a definitive description. She hammers the escorts yet the bombers continue onward, and some wonder why she is not going after the real targets, the bombers. Nobody had foreseen that one bomber had already turn tail with all the escorts getting shot down or having to leave themselves due to mechanical failures due to the weather or battle damage. She had been trying to show them they were not invincible in these skies anymore and one by one she slags the bombers. Vague hints in enemy craft to craft broadcasts indicate a mounting fear of who is shooting them to pieces in a supposedly well covering snow storm.

**_"We are losing too many bombers, we should..."_**

She had shot that one before he could finish his message, range to Valais is shrinking, Foulke starts going after the bombers once working out her method, and the number of enemy IFF signals drop in pairs once she and Pixy attack in tandem. Seven bombers had been shot down in the space of ten minutes leaving less than half their starting number still pressing for Valais. The Tiger does a barrel roll after ripping into the remaining bombers anti-fighter defenses, all they have left as she dares them to turn back are their bombs, but of course they are not turning, she had given them the chance to run. Multiple Fox Two calls are made, the IFFs decrease rapidly leaving only two bombers as they near the periphery of the bombers' predetermined drop spot. She tilts the fighter one way, fires off two missiles, then quickly tilts the other and repeats the move just as Pixy catches up again. The bay doors just barely open as the bombers explode when the missiles make contact, drawn to the heat signatures of the bombs, it is unreliable idea that missiles in cold weather will possibly lock onto the nearest heat source in the targeting vectors. The design while not perfected, it still has a higher target destruction ratio then the older designs. The bombers erupt in flames then drop disintegrating like the other planes that were torn to pieces during the counterattack/defensive cordon.

* * *

Location: Valais Airbase, Tyrann Mountains, Ustio; Year: 2005

One of the remaining old control tower staff describes the elation of making the RTB call for the Eagle and the Tiger. At the time, there is a hope that Valais thanks to this would hopefully not see another attack for awhile, maybe even the rest of the war, but no one knows how long this war will drag on for aside from Ustio finally being brought into an alliance between all the nations facing attacks from the Belkans. The defense of Valais by the mercenaries had given Ustio an edge to compensate for the occupation. Cipher had shot down more fighters in a single time up than Foulke made in a week yet a numbers rivalry is not that important, not now, maybe in hindsight, but even Larry would later tell me that such things were common among pilots no matter what side you were on, rivalry comes with the skies. It had been a victory, albeit a small one, but as usual size is typically deceptive in this conflict, in any conflict perhaps. I recall again the words of Pixy about their first landing together after shooting down the Belkan bombers.

One word had it all crystallized together... _potential_.

I could hardly disagree and somehow I knew I would never be the only one. Those at Valais old enough to remember meeting Cipher, let alone talking to her, never saw just a woman when facing her, for many she can become the embodiment of the Goddess of War if you believe in that, and for others she had become a harbinger of death to those who she had decide between shooting down, crippling for spares, or leaving alone altogether. Her ace style would define her razor sharp path through the last year of the Belkan War. Some would swear she carries around a locket that she kisses by ritual, some would ask why, she told them, it contains my purpose to be up there, for her it is never about the money even though she would be paid quite well for her service. The tide shifts ever so subtly with this not-so-small victory for the Ustians. They would soon have new allies including the Osean Federation and the Yuktobanian Union.

* * *

A/N 1: This chapter is meant to be a retrospective omniscent style entry aside from the last section which is again Brett Thompson's commentary on the first battle after meeting the Valais Airbase personnel after his first visit there after his first encounter with Larry in the previous chapter.

A/N 2: Some the battle described is really short mainly because well you can't write whole segments around dogfights. I wrote it from my own perspective while playing the game, I may not be the best marksman in Ace Combat, but I'd like to think I'm fairly good at it. I chose to hammer away at the fighter escorts first then maul the bombers.

A/N 3: I started off in the F-5E II and gradually bought more planes like anyone else. Referenced Heierlark as a weather contrast to Tyrann.


	3. Bridges

Location: Route 171, Arlon, Sapin; Date: April 15, 1995

Background Files: Arlon residents, Pilot Journals, etc.

The Belkan advance stalls in the wake of the failure to destroy Valais so now Ustio must risk a gamble to convince to the Allies that they mean business, not to just drive the Belkans out of Ustio, but Ustio's neighbors including Sapin, which is facing its own Belkan Occupation. A vital transit route connects Ustio to Sapin and the other nations that are fighting Belkans on all fronts. Galm is sent as the vanguard to shatter the defensive positions along that road and it is also where Cipher continues to build the legend that will spread through the skies with each mission taken by Galm. The Tiger and the Eagle begin their attack run targeting the foremost position to their target list. The AA guns are torn to piece by machine gun fire from Cipher's Tiger while Pixy's Eagle lets loose a spread of missiles against the Belkan Air Patrol above the highway. They are too easily beaten in Pixy's mind yet they did seem to have this distracted sense in their maneuvering, probably the ease of Cipher sniping their ground forces. He give her this again, her aiming is dead on, she uses very little ammo yet does maximum damage. She does nothing to the civilian structures yet Pixy will not break her decision, she leads, he follows at least for now, but even he tires of this war aside from few knowing he conceals the fact that he is Belkan as for her, she says little yet her mannerisms seem to profess a disdain for Osea letting Ustio take such a beating until now. She protects another secret aside from being Osean, he knows that much, but as to what that is unclear for the time being.

The mobile SAMs get a lock on her and he alerts her, she tells thanks for the call then barrel dives shooting them with the same ease she had taken for their AA gunners. The first bridge is clear in less than ten minutes, which sends a wave of panic to the middle bridge so they swap positions so he can keep missile reserves. He blasts his way through a row of tanks, but somehow manage to pierce their treads before swing around firing at their gas tanks, which detonates in conjunction with tank weapons magazine. The fire billows up more smoke and more Belkan fighters are inbound yet at the sight of the Tiger they hesitate and Cipher uses it against them by taking out a few as usual then disabling others if possible forcing their retreat as many squawk about canopies and hydraulic malfunctions due to battle damage. Some plane wreckage scatters against the landscape and others have the misfortune of slamming into friendly defensive positions, which puts some elation into Pixy yet Cipher is silent throughout, she never did talk much during the frenzy of combat according to those who kept tabs on the pilot to pilot transmissions. The second and middle bridge is clear yet it would be up to the ground forces to sweep out the wrecks in the road way. It seem silly to call them vanguard or pathfinders as they left only wreckage in their wake or those who could limp home should the option be taken.

***

Pixy would later recount to Brett that she had such perplexing tactics about the enemy positions, some she would rip to shreds without hesitation and others would be left to wonder why they were still alive while their comrades among the dead.

She did not really provide an explanation yet he could grasp what is happening, he felt the same questions railing in his own mind as he wrote in the journal that he had given to Brett to read between interviews that were sure to come if Brett found any surviving Belkan War aces. Some did die by her marksmanship and others were able to walk away for a time perhaps. War however does not leave alone those who try to walk away because Pixy's journal read...

..._war encapsulates everything, pilot, plane, even the skies though of course there one is meant to shoot down or shot down yet Cipher does not adhere to that unspoken principle about survival. She stuck to her beliefs, to her convictions, and for that I could respect her._

_***  
_

The third bridge is showing signs of retreat when the first two checkpoints go dark and the smoke is making many quite nervous yet they are not about to abandon the position as many know losing this choke point in Arlon would open the gates to unraveling the whole war effort yet there seems no stopping the Galms as both tear through the remaining numbers. One by one each IFF signal goes dark leaving only two SAMs and a handful of tanks yet the SAMs are out first leaving the tanks with an option to retreat until Pixy destroys the one near the bridge's exit so they try to head forward. They are met with the plane wrecks and some climb out of their vehicles then run diving off into the tributaries below the bridge drifting away knowing that fleeing their posts meant death possibly, but they were at this point more afraid of Galm then their own superiors. Pixy shoots up the remaining tanks and a few fighters start limping away after Cipher cripples their firing controls. 171 is no longer under Belkan control and Pixy radios their success to the ground forces awaiting word if they can advance so they begin yet there is still more to be done especially here as well as reclaiming military assets within Ustio plus the symbolism of 'liberating' Directus from the Belkans is clear.

The Galms return to base leaving a path of flaming wreckage strewn across the landscape and the roadways. The mobile infantry and armored divisions would pass through on clean up as well as moving ground forces in the direction of Directus. The locals would return in time too and they would send their thanks directly to Valais Air Base. Cipher flushes just a little at the sight of the gifts as Pixy notices yet they had done their jobs. Cipher heads for the hangar and Pixy follows wondering what all the personnel chatter had been about this afternoon. Cipher got a new bird is the word among the maintenance crew and in the pilots' mess hall. As he watches her run her fingers along the plane he begins to suspect she treats her planes like living creatures and when flying them its like the two of them act in tandem and often when he caught glimpses of how she made her kills even he had a sense of awe as some later note from his facial expressions and relate the observations among themselves.

Her new fighter is F-16C... a Falcon to rival his Eagle. It would not be the last new fighter in their hangar if the cash kept rolling it. She spent only as much necessary to buy or maintain the planes where as the for the rest, nobody knows exactly, at least not then.

Location: Arlon, Sapin; Date: 2005

Brett is packing up his car as he hears the most paralyzing yet charming music coming from a restaurant bar across the street. He locks up the car and crosses the street then enters the place. He asks who the dancer is up there on stage tonight.

"Her name is Marcela Vasquez... I wouldn't advise asking her about the war... she doesn't like talking about it... but who knows maybe she'll talk to you."

The song end and she is gone by the time he looks up. He had come just before closing and she is perhaps eager to return home. He thumbs through the listing of surviving pilots and finds her name, she had flown in the two plane flight Espada during the war yet many including Espada band together in the waning months of the conflict as part of the philosophy that boundaries are what triggers wars. He wonders why she went AWOL with the others though only she could perhaps tell him if she wants to speak to him he knows clearly.

Cipher's first engagement at the Round Table is where the nickname finally took hold despite it being a diversionary encounter and as for pilots that would speak to him, he would be meeting the first of many Belkan aces that made it through dog fights with Cipher.

* * *

A/N 1: The surgical strike at Arlon was a quick mission compared to the later ones, basically I wrote it from memory again somewhat omniscent P.O.V.

A/N 2: The idea of contrasting the sights of battle between the day Cipher had flown and fought there against how it is as Brett travels to those places seem like an interesting add to the story.


	4. Indigo Heron

Location: Belkan Priority One Strategic Airspace B7R aka The Round Table; Date: April 20, 1995

Background Files: Pilot Journals, Ace Interviews

The Allied Air Force engage the Belkan Air Force in a technological dead zone and by dead zone pilots refer to the fact that if shot down, the hand held radios are practically useless. As expected the Belkans divert as many planes as they can to contain this intrusion of their air space, particularly _this one_.

The Galms arrive in the midst of the fight and naturally their side is not fairing well at this stage. Their arrival is noted by both sides and quickly someone squawks over the radio about reinforcements' IFF.

Another answers the question and then those words along suddenly seem to give new energy, new vigor to the pilots being worn down then shot to pieces by the Belkans.

Cipher leads the way in the Falcon by pounding several MiG Fishbirds immediately, which were the standard plane in the Belkan Defense Squadrons. The present remaining bogeys are the other standard type, the older F-4 Phantoms, which converge to attack the Galms. The tide shifts as the Belkans begin to panic at how rapidly they went from holding the line to getting a shove backwards. Word about 171 had gotten around and now the fear is in the air with them.

The damaged fighters took to limping away as they had before whereas Pixy typically never lets anyone slip away from the scene. Pilots gradually recognize a distinction between the two Galms, the difference between a herald and a harbinger is an aesthetic one, as many pilots would later chronicle on their first and possibly last Round Table encounter with the Galms. The Allied chatter is often suggestive that they mind the Galms because in this fight they are continuously pushing back or shooting down the enemy fighters. The AWACS keeps reporting a drop off in the threat level and the rate to fall to fifty percent is astonishing even to the radar operator aboard the Allied AWACS.

The Galms' relentlessness drives the Allied fighters back into the fray and the Belkans' resolve wavers even amongst the veterans yet at least three ace flights are present including Indigo Squadron. Dmitri Heinrich in particular did not relish a reassignment to B7R, nobody deep down wants to go there, but orders are orders especially with the Allies making a feint at such a pivotal location. As he leads his flight into the mix, he is well aware of how many IFFs have gone off the radar between stragglers and shot down planes.

Galm 1 is merciful, Galm 2 is merciless, two extremes in combat, yet they fly and fight in tandem.

Dimitri Heinrich had heard about 171 and about the bombers that were shot down before they could get to Valais. Some did live to tell the tale of fighting the Galms while others did not, but such is the fate of pilots, you return either by plane, by box, or not at all. The Indigos ponder briefly what shall befall them at this turn then they dive into the mix. The Indigos like others before them learn that the Galms are not to be taken lightly. Indigo 3 is the first to bite the bullet and Dimitri tries to refrain from showing emotion, but he does shout to Mathias though of course Mathias did manage to bail out as they can see his chute.

Pixy is moving in to snipe the parachute yet Cipher noticing Indigo 1 aka Blue Heron's proximity to the recently blown apart Indigo 3 moves to appear to be going after him. It diverts Galm 2 to go after Indigo 4. It is a perplexing move by Cipher, which baffles Dmitri, yet knows even with a merciful enemy, he will still have to weather an attack and so he intends not to be easily shot down. He had not gotten the reputation for quick aerial battles for nothing, but then those pilots were not Cipher. Cipher matches him as if seeing his moves before he made them and soon he could no longer hear the squawk from either Bert or Franz, which probably meant that Pixy had gotten them.

Galm 2 had a fearsome reputation yet Galm 1 could have been a worthwhile friend had the circumstances not been what they are at this hour, in this war.

He feels the aircraft starting to buckle and show signs that now would be the ideal time to bail so he pulls the release just as another missile streaks towards his position. The plane drops without him at the controls so the missile follows it towards the landscape below. He sees several pilots from both sides even at this altitude on the ground, but here with nothing more than an emergency pack and one's firearm, it would be better to simply wait for rescue or venture heading in the general direction of a friendly camp.

It turns out this move on the Round Table was a ruse, and the Belkans fell for it. The Galms realize they were decoys, but as decoys they had done something more than give the Allies the opening to begin the push to drive the Belkans back. Cipher as some say is reborn as the Demon Lord on this day and the interest grows as well as the legend that is getting to the ears of every Belkan ace. Some likely laugh it off and others remain silent with thoughts when they shall encounter this **_Demon Lord_**.

Location: Lichtenburg, Belka; Date: October 10, 2005

Brett Thompson meets with the Blue Heron today. Dimitri Heinrich speaks with such calmness about the experience and relates the reassignment to B7R. The casualty levels at B7R are notoriously high of course, but the place held a strategic and symbolic significance to Belka. Heinrich tells of how the skies felt so empty except for them and the Galms even with a pack of Allied fighters still elsewhere yet nowhere as deadly close as the Galms.

Heinrich bears no ill will towards Cipher, he thought Cipher's hesitation an advantage that none had thought to exploit, but then hesitation does not keep one from battle. It merely indicates that a cautious yet strategic pilot prevails by learning to perceive then do where the mind directs the body and where the hand guides the plane.

Thompson considers asking if Heinrich ever met Cipher after the war yet it could wait as he had other pilots to contact, to talk to, and try to make an image of Cipher from their reminisces of the war.

The Allies had gone forward by sea and land yet the Belkans put too much attention to the air except it would be from the air that the flow of the war would turn against the Belkans. The air superiority advantage is beginning to slip away except the Allies had hope again because of the Galms and the Belkans look on in confusion mingling with fascination.

Brett could recognize the fascination because it is growing in him too, he knows that now, and so the search continues from here.

* * *

A/N 1: Some this of one had already been written except it needed tweaking as usual. Some this chapter is instead rendered closer to the Blue Heron's POV. Most of the post-war interview clips are after certain aces' retrospects regarding their encounters with Cipher/Demon Lord.

A/N 2: It's never stated what plane Cipher is known for using so I basically followed my own plane picks. I upgraded to a Falcon before my first go at B7R. Still following the Knight Path... which is why most of the Ten Years After portions feature the Knight interview clips aces only.

A/N 3: The Blue Heron and the Veteran are my favorite interviews to watch... especially the Veteran... there's something sage about his words.


	5. Winged Demons

Location: Futuro Canal, Belka; Date: April 24, 1995

Background Files: Pilot Journals, Naval Personnel Interviews

Barely four days had gone by since the Ustians lit the fuse for Offensive Campaign No. 4101. An alliance pact is made by the Osean Federation, the Yuktobanian Union, the Kingdom of Sapin, and the Republic of Ustio. Together they are the Allied Forces who share on many levels a need to defeat the Principality of Belka. Belka for most of its history has been an aggressor and usually is beaten back every time it lashes out against its neighbors. The advantage for them was the rest of the world stood by watching to see what would happen to Belka because of the Depression that destabilized the nation's economy.

Ustio and Sapin however were sitting atop an underground trove of natural resources that could make Belka a superpower again if Belka ever got ahold of the land. Belka had been a part of the expedition that found the resources at a time after the Federal Law Review that had given rise to the Republic of Ustio. Of the two Sapin always stood a better chance of holding the line with the Belkans, but of course Ustio in desperation turn to foreign mercenaries. Sapin kept Belka at bay far from their own capital while Directus like much of Ustio fell to Belka.

Ustio is still a fledging republic at the start of the war so it took much to find ways to hold onto their sovereignty even though much of the country had fallen back into the hands of the kind of people they were trying to get away from when Ustio got its independence. What little is left of the Ustian government makes overtures to Belka's other more powerful enemies for help, but they are embattled as well. Ustio on its last legs appeals to mercenaries and they do answer the call for a price naturally yet it's a price that Ustio is willing to pay to save their republic.

The foreign mercenaries had been their avenging wings in the skies as some would so colorfully call them after the Galms drove back the Belkans at the Round Table.

The resources' discovery had given a right wing faction the propaganda firepower to mobilize their numbers to take power. Nobody knew then just how severe Belka's economic troubles were and this made it ripe for anyone looking to utilize that to spur the citizens as well as the military forces into action. People eager for a way to come out of a depression that had brought the country down in such a short time, but of course the war brought out the best and the worst in both sides except they had not exactly seen it yet.

The Allied Naval Forces are led by a recently completely aircraft carrier. She is the _OFS Kestrel _under the command of Commander Weeker. She is also a part of the Osean Maritime Defense Forces or OMDF for short. The OMDF's counterpart is the Yuktobanian Navy, which is helping to rebuild the Allied Forces Naval Forces as well as maintain and bolster the depleting aircraft ranks. The war thus far has been fought primarily by aircraft as Belka is practically landlocked to its enemies, the Allies, which had been Belka's mainstay advantage because they went after the aircraft in particular during the early months of the war.

However Belka has been using their air force to cover for the build up their naval elements, which means even if the air battle tips against them, they still have a navy to back the aircraft up if the war is driven back into their skies. It can no longer remain a war of attrition for either side, but the Futuro Canal would have to be a turning point otherwise the momentum gotten from the morale boost of the triumph at the Round Table would be lost.

It would be a multi-phase attack split into three separate sortie operations. The first phase or sortie op involves disarming or destroying the defenses at the southern end of the canal, which is where the bulk of the defense air squadrons are stationed presently. The second phase involves the Belkan Naval Detachment, which is consider as there are frigates, cruisers, destroyers, and aegis in or around the ports in the central portions of the canal. The third/final phase involves escorting the Allied Fleet led by the Kestrel through the northern end of the canal, which places in the sights of an airborne cordon, which means she and her support vessels have aerial snipers on the lookout for them.

The final phase however depends significantly on breaching the first and second perimeters while en route to the third-final one. The Galms are given a pick of the three phases, which is exceeding rare in an assault of this size, but defying long odds are the reputation of the Galms.

"So which of the three are we getting ourselves into Cipher?" asks Pixy.

"This assault hinges on the carrier under our feet making to Lumen Bay," remarks Cipher.

"It does?" snorts Pixy.

"We are taking the last phase, can't let anything sink this ship," retorts Cipher.

"You heard the lady, we are on Operation Costner," continues Pixy.

The others including Weeker turn to the pilots that they look to herald the assault's success.

"Give them hell Galms," responds Commander Weeker.

The two exit the CIC and head towards the bowels of the carrier where their birds have been resting since landing on the carrier after a lengthy flight from Valais to the rendezvous during a night flight. Cipher is definitely seen kissing the inside of her locket again, then the determined eyes she had become famous for are seen by the Kestrel flight deck gang, and she snaps down the black visor before pulling the oxygen mask over her mouth. The Falcon is up on the lift first before going towards the catapult.

The barrier is brought up to shield the rest of the deck from the afterburners. The checklist clears as does the board, which shows green. The deck gang signals for the Falcon to advance and so she does just as the Eagle rises up on the lift. The same procedure is run for Pixy's bird and then he joins his counterpart in the skies above the canal. Other Allied flights are going airborne to conduct Operation Gelnikos, which is meant to clear out the defenders at the southern end of the canal before the attack on the Belkan Naval Detachment can happen without birds or boats being taken out from behind.

Several Allied flights scatter to the first and second cordons which are parts of Operations Gelnikos and Round Hammer. As for Operation Costner, it is the phase that begins the blockade of Lumen, but of course air superiority is also key, which is why the Galms would be heading up the airborne strike force to clear out enemy bogeys on firing runs towards the Allied Fleet. The shipyards and moorings along the canal are also strategic to the Belkan Navy as it supplies their fuel demands as the hidden objective for the new Belkan government is to seize the resources from Sapin and Ustio.

Gelnikos gets underway early in the day and the defensive squadrons scramble, but the Allies weren't holding punches today as they had brought a considerable amount of firepower with them for this assault. The first cordon is broken before noon and with its collapse the fleet moves up to the second cordon, which is where the bulk of the Belkan vessels are waiting for them after the remaining bogeys went back to bolster the ranks of the already anxious Belkans who were surprised at the Allies' advance.

* * *

The second cordon is more of a ship to ship engagement, but occasionally fighters are zipping about trying to harass enemy vessels though in the process they are often picked off by fighters that divert from attacking vessels to attacking them. The Belkan vessels inevitably find themselves outgunned and outmaneuvered with no way to fall back for long as the Allied vessels and fighters keep hammering away them hence the name Operation Round Hammer.

Each strike is another nail in the broken vessels that become metal coffins for thousands of personnel serving aboard the vessels that succumb to artillery and aerial barrages. The fighters bound for Operation Costner pass by overhead including the Galms who at the lead edge.

"You see that Cipher… from up here I can't see a difference between us and them," radios Pixy.

"I see an aggressor stumbling in surprise that the ones it thought beaten into submission are awakening with new vigor, unbound energy, something they were afraid of all along, someone that would fight back in order to stop their carnage," calls Cipher.

"There ya have it, almost poetry," responds Pixy.

"We still have a mission to complete, the Kestrel and her support vessels are counting us for air superiority, so light the fires… we are going to need them to get there ahead of the ships."

"Roger firing the afterburners… you heard the lady… kicking in the burn!"

The luminous blue glow from the afterburners follows the squadron led by the Galm flight towards the outer edge of Bay of Lumen. The Belkan aces stationed here are already airborne charging out to meet them and possibly they suspect the Galms are coming along for the ride in the assault. The aces in retrospect are only delaying the eventual reversal of 'fortunes' as the hunters become the hunted and the prey become the predator.

* * *

Location: Bay of Lumen, Lumen, Belka; Date: April 27, 1995

The _Kestrel _and her support ships anchor in the bay before sunset and the Galms legend would be mightier for the event. Cipher took down all the aces in record time, but this is unsurprising for she is the Goddess of War after all or so the story goes among the deck gang of the Kestrel. The Belkan Navy would never recover the ports near or in Lumen after this. The route to the resources had fallen out of their hands and the path into South Belka opens up before the Allies so the battle lines move into Belkan territory.

However Belka is far from surrendering because they still had a few tricks left to pull on the Allies and so far the Allies had not been aware of certain technological developments deep in the heart of Belka. The skies from this point forward would only become more hostile and unforgiving so one could ask how would the Demon Lord battle there because now they would be going behind enemy lines from now on. The winds war is changing.

The Allied ground forces in tandem with rebuilt fighter commands converge on Belka from all directions though particularly from the south. Ustio's liberation becomes the next priority for the Galms, which meant another long haul back to Valais possibly or going straight to Solis Ortus, a mountain town that would provide the most direct ground route to Ustio's capital city Directus. The Belkans had to be driven out of Ustio just as they were being driven out of Sapin.

So far the Allies are relying on a drive-them-back method, which appears successful thus far.

"We are being redeployed to Solis Ortus while other Allied units are going to be working on driving the Belkans out of Sapin and Osea. Ustio is again our priority according to our superiors and paymasters," chuckles Pixy.

"These things take time, but they are taking the momentum to make the drive… all that remains is how will Belka respond to this new found aggression on their part?" murmurs Cipher.

"You almost sound worried that they would do something drastic," comments Pixy.

"Sure we keep the skies in our favor and they keep retreating, but eventually they are going to swing around and punch us where it hurts… at least that's what my heart and my gut tells me."

"Almost no one knows this, but I am Belkan, however I don't care or like this continuing wage war crap they are pulling these days. A lot of those aces used to be kind of afraid of me, but they are more afraid of you now _Demon Lord_."

"I'll be damned if that's how history remembers me. A symbol of fear, I just wanted a world where I could raise my son safely," sighs Cipher.

"You have a son?" whispers Pixy.

"What the heck did you think I wear this for?" murmurs Cipher.

Pixy opens the locket with Cipher's consent.

"Good looking kid, kind of takes after you," remarks Pixy.

"I bet his father would agree with you," chuckles Cipher.

"Who is the lucky guy?" probes Pixy.

"That's a story for another time," laughs Cipher.

"I finally learn what the deal is with the locket, but you still keep secrets."

"Can't give away the whole mystery now can I?"

"I guess not, might as well as get some rest, before we have to fly out again."

* * *

Location: Lumen; Date: September 2005

Background Files: Brett Thompson's Logs

It had been a decade since this city had seen two major turns in what history books call the Belkan War. The first had been when the Allies had broken through three cordons of defense to use their city as a rally point to advance through the rest of Belka. Not all of Belka had sought war and plenty had somehow known an entrenched battle would only devastate Belka worse than the Depression had done in the years prior. Lumen is still primarily a Belkan city, but it is no longer part of the Principality of Belka. The events that follow the debacle of Futuro Canal would backlash civilian sentiments against war in the south lands and in cities like Lumen.

The weeks that follow the Futuro Canal assault had seen Lumen become an occupied city and what many had found there was a city that did not want war on their door step ever again. The anti-war sentiment had begun to spread rapidly and Futuro Canal's loss is further proof that their leaders had perhaps made a colossal mistake in attempting to seize the neighboring countries' natural resources by force. Futuro Canal was among the worst naval defeats for the Belkan Navy in its service history. The sunken wrecks of destroyers, cruisers, and frigates still lie in the canal. Some are at the bottom of the Bay of Lumen.

This is Lumen's reminder of that war, but further to the north this is a different kind of reminder. The kind that even I had not forgotten, but who forgets that, the broadcast had seared into the world's collective memory. Almost nothing can survive there especially as the lands remain irradiated because of the fallout. Seven craters, seven cities, and an estimation of a death toll, but of course what I remember is the silence in the class room as all saw what the Belkans had done in desperation to stave off the Allies' advance once the south lands had left the war. The craters had become a rather sickening version of a demilitarized zone because nobody could enter the area on foot and those who did survive the detonations were few in numbers. Many had succumbed to some form of radiation sickness in the months that followed the detonations. I will eventually venture seeing the craters in person because I too must remember, the world must remember, but of course it would mean going towards the border between North and South Belka.

I made a point of trying to respect the notion that Lumen is still South Belka even though I am told back in Osea it is North Osea, but here these people are still Belkans at heart even though they live in a region that's politically called by a different name. The war is still with them even when now is considered peacetime. My latest discovery from Pixy's journal is that Cipher is a mother and that she has a son. He's probably an adolescent or an adult by now if he was a toddler or slightly older then that when she went off to war. Pixy's accent no matter how he try to cover it, still told me he was Belkan, but these distinctions are the basis of some forms of identity.

I wonder if Cipher's son followed in her footsteps as a pilot and what is more I am curious about his father, her husband, but I suppose I may learn in time. There is no rush, no urgency, no dogfights at least not here right now, but ten years ago, such things were a fixture of everyone's lives. It was not the meaning of life, but what being alive means, what it feels like. My journey however will turn back towards Ustio, to Directus, to a Belkan Ace who has resided there since the war after being shot down.

A man named Rainer Altman, he agreed to meet with me, and so I would be soon to board a flight to Directus. Ustio is still a fledgling republic, but making it through the Belkan War had taught the nation many hard lessons about life during and after the physical motions of war. Altman had stayed in Directus after being shot down, but his flight lead was shot down. I wonder what he'll have to tell me, but then that is why I am out here, to find out what happen up there and out here. It is a beautiful sunset here in Lumen, one of the few places in Belka where such a phenomena can be seen as elsewhere storm skies barely register a shift from sunlight to moonlight.

It is time to move on as the story continues elsewhere.

* * *

A/N 1: Enter the Kestrel. A slight tweak is that the Galms are launching into battle from the Kestrel. They took part in Operation Costner. I did write in some details for the outcomes of Gelnikos and Round Hammer. I had played all three, but I favored Costner in particular.

A/N 2: The purpose of Cipher's locket is revealed, she's a mother with a rather young son that she sorely misses, but she is here fighting for a peaceful world to grow up in, if that's even possible. As for Pixy, he is expressing more of his disdain for the war.

A/N 3: The present day scene I shifted into a first person narrative type as I tried to be more clear about how Brett views the events of the war in retrospect.


	6. Bell Tolls

Location: Directus, Ustio; Date: May 13, 1995

Background Files: Pilot Journals, _**Directus Liberator**_, _**History of Ustio**_

Directus had been a primary objective for the Belkans when they made their Blitzkrieg on Ustio, Sapin, and Osea. It spent most of the war under occupation and from there the Belkans had effectively taken almost full control of the fledgling nation as the new leaders of Belka had declared the Federal Law Review of 1987 to be 'unconstitutional' or illegal. The Belkans had already made threatening overtures early on before the invasion, but of course Ustio took the ideological and political high ground that they were a legal and independent nation. The multi-prong invasion forces overwhelmed Ustio and as a result they made a reluctant withdrawal to the hinterlands near the Tyrann Mountains where they held off with the last pockets of resistance and from there they made the arrangement with the mercenaries.

The alliance pact comes not long after Ustio decides to accept the offer to join the other nations hit hard by Belka. The liberation of Directus had become a critical juncture to break Belka's grip as it had already been in the process of being broken elsewhere and it is part of a concerted effort to push them back within their borders.

The Belkans instead of relying on air superiority in the capital turn their attention to fortifying ground positions in critical parts of city and particularly in densely populated portions. They were using the civilians for shields. This is seen as a deplorable strategy, but of course they had already been driven out of Solis Ortus so Directus is the most obvious destination for a liberation force.

The Galms are again at the lead planes in the battle, but the sky is strangely vacant of any enemy contacts, but there are a few enemy planes. Their number is too few to maintain air superiority, but that's when the Galms make the alarm buzzing discovery that they are in the sights of a full compliment of AAs and SAMs.

"The lack of planes should have been the clue here, missiles in bound, break and veer now!"

"Already on my way, you got some on your six, once we are clear start sweeping for the batteries!"

"There are some APCs down there too, why are they relying on ground deployment?"

"We are obviously missing something here."

"No time to wonder what that is so just focus on getting rid of the SAMs and AAs for now."

A lone Typhoon is taking notice and moving in on the Galms.

"Guess we weren't as alone up as we thought," radios Pixy.

"Apparently not, but there I'll clear your six," replies Cipher.

Pixy's Eagle is nimble, but the Typhoon pilot is unexpectedly good with tight turns, which meant outmaneuvering him is nigh impossible.

"You got the shot yet?" quips Pixy.

"Working on it, he's been dodging my attempts to snap him with missiles," replies Cipher.

"Time to try the guns then," remarks Pixy.

The sound of bullets hitting hull and nothing is audible for the next several minutes, but the Typhoon is losing velocity as Cipher hit the fighter's fuel tank. Pixy keeps leading the Typhoon, but drops some missiles on nearby SAMs locking onto him from below.

"Really need that guy off my tail now!"

"Fox Two… go straight up because he'll be dropping down!"

The next sound is the sound of the Typhoon falling down towards street level.

"If this battle was more built up with fighters I suspect we would be cutting loose on them."

"Well it is not and we still have ground forces to clear out so move it!"

"Copy that… the APC is racing towards another sector… targeting AAs now."

The AAs erupt in flames and the last of the SAMs similar blows apart when Cipher shoots it to pieces. A civilian resistance is emerging from the buildings and going after the fleeing Belkan ground personnel.

"Looks like the locals are reclaiming their city," says Pixy.

"They have read the tide of battle, but we are not going after the tents leaving that to the civilians."

"Understood… next sector…"

A helicopter is leaving the battle zone.

"Wonder who is in such hurry to run away by air?"

"Probably some ranking officer, that'll do a number on morale besides us."

"Multiple bogeys are coming down from above; these are new contacts, maybe the hi-techs."

"I don't think so they are all MiG-29s, heck of a step up from flinging Fishbeds and Phantoms at us."

"They did use F-15s and F-2s at Futuro."

"Right, well these MiGs are far more maneuverable than most of the planes you have fought so far."

"Split up no sense in making this easy for them."

"Roger, splitting off, time to rack up the kills… might make today less boring!"

Cipher takes her plane through a spin as the two MiGs on her unleash four missiles simultaneously. Two smash into each other somehow as the spinning had possibly done an overlap effect on their homing systems, but the other two are still closing so she keeps accelerating in an attempt to outrun them.

"C'mon how much further to do I have to drag you two?"

One explodes, but the other keeps homing until she dares to spin around to shoot it. Of course as she spins it explodes sending shrapnel against her plane.

"Crap, that was too close… at least they built these canopies well otherwise… don't even think it!"

"You alright, I could hear you cussing through the helmet mike."

"I'm alright… status?"

"While you were busy dancing with the MiGs, I took out mine, I am gonna even things out for you."

"I would appreciate the assist."

Cipher goes after the closer of the two remaining MiGs over the middle of the city. She spots a Prowler above her, the radar starts showing a blind spot all around her.

"Right that's why we didn't see them before… damn Prowler up there… those MiG will have to wait… Pixy we got a jammer up here with us."

The Prowler is a more cumbersome craft that relies on the fact that not even homing missiles can effectively target it. The built-in radar jammer is in the centerpiece of the design. It means bullets are the only way to take it out. At close range the Prowler is a slippery type, but the guns' effective decreases the further away one is from the target. A couple strafing runs slow it down, but still plenty of tight turning just to keep within firing range.

The Ustians are taking back the cleared out sections of the city as the Belkans are falling back into sectors still under their grip. They would have to be driven out today because otherwise it could fall back into their hands. There are audible sounds from the ground near one of the towers. Local chatter being routed by the AWACS to the Galms reveals that the locals calling it the Freedom Bell.

The Prowler erupts in a fireball then the debris flutter in the wind then fall like stones.

"_Radar is clear… takedown the MiGs!"_ says Eagle Eye.

"That's the plan," radios Cipher.

Pixy already snipes the MiG he had been tailing ever since they got caught up in the radar jamming and Cipher turns her attention to the other who is weaving about as if freaking out. It is trickier than usual to maintain the target lock on the bogey. She fires off one missile, which slams into the MiG's right wing and almost shears it clear away. The weaving continues until the lock is solid again and the missile hits the engine section just as the pilot moves to compensate for the wing, but few ever manage to keep the plane going with only one good wing. The only one she knows is Pixy though of course plenty often refer to him as Solo Wing Pixy because of the story.

The MiG plunges towards the cityscape and crashes onto a rooftop after the fires broke out from the inside of the plane. She could only hope that when she had blown up planes their pilots would have a quick death, but not everyone gets that lucky if they aren't able to bail out. She never did seem like a woman comfortable with killing, but it comes with the territory of being a fighter pilot. More would die before this war ends, she could feel that, but then war always takes away from everyone, no matter what their role. She would have to see this through to the end because of him and her son.

Chatter from below reveal the Belkans are panicking as all their birds have been shot down except for an A-10 on the far side of the city. The Galms proceed to close the distance, but even though the A-10 is a bomber, it can still inflict considerable damage with any part of its payload with precision aiming.

"You get the feeling they might have been expecting this?" asks Cipher.

"Anything is possible, but the locals are doing the footwork, we are just the fireworks," says Pixy.

The A-10 as expected is dodgier than the Prowler at close range so the Galms go about strafing it with machine guns. The bomber eventually crumples and drops smashing fuselage first into an open grassy field. Only one sector remains after clearing the current sector of SAMs and the Belkans stop retreating further into the city. However they won't make themselves easy targets as they hide in the shadows of the buildings. More missile lock warnings send the Galms looping around trying to lose the missiles without letting them hit the taller buildings.

Cipher tilts and flies on a slant between several skyscrapers looking for stragglers and other SAMs. They were almost exactly where she thought she might find them and she simply fires off two LAGMs from a distance away so they curve as they are homing in on the SAMs that are several blocks away. She pulls the fighter up as the SAMs explode ahead of her. This is not the time to be worrying over whether or not there was severe collateral damage. She uses the rest of her LAGMs to clear out the rest of the sector.

"_All sectors are clear of Belkan control,"_ radios Eagle Eye.

However the fight did not end there as suddenly two new contacts crop on the radar screen.

"Inbound enemy fighters at high speed," calls Cipher.

"What? Now?!" fumes Pixy.

"_IFF squawks indicate them to be the Gelb Team,"_ continues Eagle Eye.

A pair of Su-37 fighters is closing on their position and so it would have to be quick because the longer the dogfight, the more likely one of these aces could spot a way to shoot them down.

"This is the first time we are facing even odds. Indigo had us 2-to-1, but we bagged them," reminds Pixy.

"Weren't you the one that told me never underestimate the enemy?" reminds Cipher.

"All kinds of odds come with this lifestyle… let's go them!"

At close range, the Gelbs alternate between machine gun and missile, but of course this is a standard alternating tactic as it takes time for the missile slots to prep a new salvo. Cipher stays on one and Pixy on the other, but both operate in tandem so halfway through the chase the Gelbs trade 'partners'. The staccato of machine gun can be heard again as Pixy's guns tear a few new holes in the Gelb he is tailing and Cipher finally gets a missile lock so shoots down her bogey. The pilot bails with time to spare as his flight lead had likely told him to do so as she heard from radio chatter being picked up by Eagle Eye.

Pixy's shots however finish off the flight lead leaving another flaming wreck to smash into an open field outside the city. Cipher keeps a watch on the descending Gelb survivor and hopes he makes it to the ground. It would be best for him to surrender as he is now behind enemy lines instead of an occupied city, but of course that provides for the idea that he would do as she hopes he would do in that situation.

"Where's the other guy?" asks Pixy.

"He's on the ground… the locals will decide what to do with him… we are getting an RTB call."

"Roger that, RTB received… so are you planning on buying a new plane after this?" queries Pixy.

"We'll see, depends on what's available… quite fond of the Falcon for now."

"I'm sticking to the Eagle for obvious reasons."

Directus would honor this date for years to come because of the Galms, because of Cipher.

Date: September 13, 2005; Location: Directus, Ustio

Background Files: Brett Thompson's Logs

"This is where I buried Obert Jager or what was left of him after his plane was shot down and crashed near here. He told to me to bail out after my plane became too damaged for me to retreat."

Altman was showing me where his flight lead was laid to rest because once Belka left Ustio nobody had come for him, but that didn't matter to him apparently. He was glad to be out of the war yet memories of war would be with him forever.

"I met my wife in a field hospital. She was a nurse, she still is, that is her calling, saving lives, and mine had been for a long time had been taking lives. I was surprised at first that she could like me or even later love me despite the fact I had been apart of the military that occupied her home city."

She had driven us here. She understood why he had to come here, to remember his friend, his fellow pilot, and the man he would say saved his life. Some did not take lightly to a marriage between a Belkan and an Ustian, but marriage between nationalities are far more common now. She could also tell why I had come here even though her husband had not told her immediately that I was on my way.

"It didn't matter to her that I was Belkan, she didn't see the Belkan, she said this about you Rainier, the man I love, nothing less than that, and of course the kids were eventually told about my past. Ustio history books don't cast Belkans in a positive light, but as the years passed I tried to rectify that if it was possible."

History books are written and rewritten throughout the years, but of course there are often touches of national slants. This is part of why I am doing this documentary so that people could hear the other side because while what Belka did strikes many of us as wrong, they are still a nation of people who went through this war just like everyone else. They are not even a whole country anymore due to the Treaty of Lumen. Plenty resent this aside from the fact that world has not gone to war in almost ten years, but for many it has been a disorienting decade.

"I became a writer after a time and that's what I do now. I write, at least when my mind can focus, but every year the one day I can't get anything done is the Liberation Day as some call it. The day I was shot down, the day I unofficially would head towards some kind of a life as Ustian. I didn't have a city to go back to in Belka because many Belkan pilots became scattered in the winds during and after the war. I was also rather mortified when I read the papers about the detonations near the Waldreich Mountains."

Nobody understood why they did it though of course plenty of plausible explanations were brought up over the years and once South Belka had broken away from the Principality of Belka, they turn to one of the most destructive weapons ever made, the V2, the nuclear weapons. The war had appeared to halt at that point, but not everyone was going to stand down though officially the war is believed to have ended in the summer of 1995. In reality, it didn't end until much later in the year then that, but that part of the record was classified top secret until recently.

We went back to his residence and to a view of the sunset in Directus. The weather varies in Ustio or so I was told, but of course this is my first visit, likely not the last though. I set up the equipment and it is time to conduct another interview. Unlike Dimitri, Rainier struck me as someone who often felt survivor's guilt yet still tries to lead a life of meaning.

"I met her above this very sky. I can still hear the sound of the missile alerts from that day. I received my order to fly to Directus on my way back from an intercept mission on the southern defense line."

He spoke like this could have just been another day as a pilot.

"The order itself wasn't unusual. We kept being deployed from one mission to the next without even the most basic maintenance. But the situation was the same all around."

My attention was drawn to a tower in the distance yet my ears still hung on his words.

"We were late reaching the operational space. The stationed squadrons had already retreated, and warning bells were going off in the city…"

He appears caught up in the memory of that day when he and Obert first made it to the skies over Directus.

"And the people were looking up to her plane high above the sky."

His head tilts as if his eyes were not on me, but on the memory of the engagement with Cipher.

"I couldn't see any emotions in her maneuvers. I didn't feel like I was fighting against a human being. I wanted to end that battle as quickly as possible."

I wouldn't ask the obvious question about how he had known Cipher was a she because it didn't seem relevant to me, at least not yet anyway. I finish recording on Altman for now because as usual I had a tight schedule for preparing this documentary and still more pilots to visit, but each visit had shown me more. The tenth anniversary of the liberation had passed four months ago, but of course it would always look like Altman would have echoes of memories. I thank him for his time and he confesses he is glad that someone is trying to get a fuller account of the war instead of all the secrets languishing in the dark.

His wife joins him by the window as I head out to catch a flight and rent a car to get me to the Belkan Countryside though no doubt I would see landscape scars from the war on the way there. I would return to Directus and even Delarus before I am done with this journey. The questions about the war and more so about the Demon Lord are cause to see this through. For many all this remains unforgotten, but perhaps it is forgiven in some ways though only further interviews will validate that notion.

* * *

A/N 1: The para drops into Solis Ortus are mentioned, but I chose cover the events of Operation Constantine primarily. I attempted to develop a series of fighter exchanges leading up to the Galm-Gelb face-off. Most of the time I usually finished Constantine quickly even with a F-16.

A/N 2: _**Directus Liberator**_ is meant to be a local newspaper that's been in circulation since the liberation of Directus and_** History of Ustio**_ is one several history books written about Ustio's part in the Belkan War. Both only exist as part of this story.

A/N 3: I expanded on the meeting between Rainier Altman and Brett Thompson by having them visit Obert Jager's grave outside Directus. I also inserted a way in which he might have met his wife. Altman's dialogue towards the end is a lift from the cut scene except I switched he for she as Cipher is a woman in this spin.


	7. Freeze Over

_Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world. – Blaise Pascal

* * *

_

Location: Glatistant, Mt. Ivrea – Hydrian Line - Belka | Date: May 17, 1995

Background Files: Pilot Journals, Declassified 4101 Reports

Less than a week had passed since Directus' liberation from the Belkan Army and less than a month since the Battle of Futuro Canal. The war is turning against Belka yet now the Allies would have to take the fight to Belka. Officially they are calling this a nuclear inspection, which is not entirely inaccurate, but Glatistant is not where the Belkans were keeping their nuclear weapons. There were rumors however that they were there or had been until recently. The Belkans had also heard rumors that the Allies were planning an assault on Glatistant so if there were nukes there, they were moved, but nobody truly knows the whole story about really went on at Glatistant.

Mount Ivrea is not all that different from the Tyrann Mountains in Ustio at least from above in the snowy clouds, but here the Allies including the Ustians are heading into unfriendly skies.

The Hydrian Line covers roughly seven hundred kilometers of terrain. However the strongest defense positions in the line are the converted fortresses. The fortresses date back a few centuries as even then Belka had designs on war, but no amount of defeats deters them from going to war. One would think the fortress ruins would have shown them the errors that their ancestors made, but as with wars past it appears Belka would again have to be shown that in the long run they were one against many. Each time they took their neighbors by surprise, but each time those same neighbors saw the advantages of banding together against a common foe.

The short lived alliances through the centuries accounts for Belka's losing streak yet defeat never appears to break their fighting spirit. They simply recede back into their borders, lick their wounds, and then they wait a time before coming back with weapons their enemies don't expect them to have in their arsenal. Each time however the alliances made against them brought the numbers. Belka could never really stand up to several nations hammering away at them at the same time. Blitzkrieg tactics remains their ace in the hole, but with the Allies gunning for them they instead have to fall back to the defensive. Belka no longer retains footholds anywhere and South Belka by degrees is abandoning North Belka's warmongers.

The truth is Belka perhaps thought each time around they would be right.

What it really is who is left to fight and what do they fight for when so many already dead?

Ivrea and the surrounding peaks are too fortified to risk going after by ground so the Allies would call upon the mercenaries to be first in line to take a whack at Glatistant.

Pixy had his own theories about the place and the rumors of its true purpose as a nuclear arms production facility and Cipher she just goes where they send her flight. As for today they were already en route to Ivrea for the purpose of demolishing Glatistant. Many don't take the nuclear arms rumors seriously, but deep down nuclear weapons is just the latest in humanity's capacity for self-destruction. The splitting of the atom remade it as a weapon of war. All the same, nuclear weapons construction requires not just the science, but the means to build said weapons. Everyone went into their birds without talking about the weapons, but it is on everyone's minds.

* * *

"Yo Buddy, you still alive in there?" radios Pixy.

"I'm here, no way am I going to freeze," replies Cipher.

"Nuclear inspection, who do they think they are fooling?" snorts Pixy.

"Just be glad you didn't say that on vox," reminds Cipher.

"Now that would be embarrassing, but I could live with it," chuckles Pixy.

"The snow up here is worse than Tyrann," notes Cipher.

"Ivrea has nothing on Heierlark," interjects Pixy.

"I guess the further north you go, the more snow there is then."

"In Belka, the seasons never make sense, but what about this country does?"

"Yuktobania is also known for climate extremes too."

"Right the JIlachi Desert."

The Galms return their attention to the forward defense positions at the southernmost ground targets, which was referred in the briefing as Area Gate. Besides the Gate, there are four other encampments that make up the bulk of Glatistant. All have artillery and antiaircraft gun emplacements, which initially suggest most of the enemies, will be below the mercenary aircraft vanguard. It becomes rather standard to push the mercenaries into the lead position, which isn't uncommon to the infantry concept of making certain individuals take point every time a unit goes into battle.

The frost is fogging up canopies so the internal heaters are working over time to improve pilot's visibility range, which even without the snow would always be less than ideal especially up here. Likewise Mount Ivrea isn't just called that for the sake of a name. As many other pilots are quick to notice this place is an aircraft graveyard specifically for fighter jets.

"Multiple ground contacts, AA guns, SAMs, and built into the mountain side as we were told are RPG launchers. Not sure if there are pillboxes, but it is a fair guess to say they are out there. This place is armed to the teeth," reports Pixy.

"Affirmative, all craft save your heavier payloads for the bigger targets this includes anyone carrying UGBs, GPBs, SODs, XMAAs or XAGMs," instructs Cipher.

"You heard her boys, don't waste specials on single targets, you find any clusters, well you get the idea, mind warning lights and try not to not get shot down, the cold is worse than the enemy," interjects Pixy.

"Way to inspire confidence buddy," snorts Cipher.

"That's what you do buddy, I am just here to remind them to not be overconfident," chuckles Pixy.

Cipher banks her fighter downward and aims for the stationary targets in the ruins at the base of the southernmost slope. The wind howls too fiercely to hear anything except the snow scrapping against the canopies, but it makes a lovely glow that glints against the snowflakes.

Burst machine gunfire is quick to rip through AA guns at the base of the slope then she pulls the bird up to fire missiles into the approach openings further up the slope. Warning lights go off indicating the presence of SAM sites in the vicinity. Random mayday messages fill the squawk, which meant they had somehow gotten themselves into cross hairs despite instructions to evade once they got lock on warnings, but then they were rookies; she couldn't fault their first mission mistake. The only problem is that it would be their last because bailing or going down with the bird is the same because even with survival gear, they have to be fast to find cover.

There's virtually no place to hide down there. What's worse is if you land inside enemy deployment positions you are getting shot because in the retreat from most of the footholds they just went on killing sprees before they left, which to Cipher is blatantly immoral because war has rules. At least it always will be to her, but not everyone shares these rules yet she had heard about a handful among the Belkan Aces who upheld these rules.

* * *

The Indigos as she found out also belong to a loose association of pilots known as the Knighthood. The other members of the Knighthood she had yet to face, but something told her she would they meet in the sky in due time because the sky is their battlefield. It is becoming hers too though she did not relish the idea unless people were reading her wrong. However she could rarely hide how much her eyes reveal about her reactions to the missions she is sent on or the pilots that she flies among. Some would call her out on why she didn't kill every single Belkan that got between the Allies and ending the war.

At first ammo shortages made for a convincing argument against kill all enemy units until they found the other Allied countries resupplying them. Next she move to the idea that make the shots that count, which did work to a point, but still she had her share of detractors both at Valais and elsewhere. She didn't dignify either with much of a response. She would fight on her own terms, the Allies want her help, the Ustians want her flying to protect their skies, and the Ustians still had to yet to rebuild their diminished military outfits, which is why they did less railing on her than most.

* * *

"For missiles to connect, you have to level with the openings in the approach crevices otherwise you are wasting the 'winders," snaps Cipher.

It didn't matter how many weapons a bird carries, the principle is how one flies and what one shoots because to survive a battle one needs both because the last thing a pilot must be ready to face is a strategic withdraw to re-arm if there's a return line. Otherwise there's whatever fuel is left in your tank and the hope that the enemy doesn't get a lucky a shot in between the pilot and the faraway runway.

AAs and SAM sites are exploding all over the fortress below the Galms, but there are multiple active firing positions inside as well as outside the walls. Some birds already bought it by straying into pillbox firing sites and pillboxes are even harder to spot in the flurries that are coming down up here. It didn't take much longer before ground based radio chatter indicates that they broken the forward defense position. Time to move onto the next fortress, which from tactical forecasts made it look even more impregnable than the one they just laid waste to.

"Anyone that needs to drop back, do so and inform CIC: Area Gate is fallen. Head north to Area Wall, we are not done yet," orders Pixy.

The burning wreckage trails smoke into the gray skies. It would light the way for a time while in the moment it would alert the rest of Glatistant to totality of what the Allies had done in less than a few hours.

So far ammo conservation appears to be working especially by forcing the other mercenaries to use their guns more often than their missiles, but even so the defense positions are said to be even more concentrated at the Wall. There is also rumored to be a central Control Tower in the keep of the fortress ahead and if taken out, it would throw enemy communications into chaos. They'd still be able to fight, just not as well without the ability to talk to each other directly. The Keep is the primary target in this section of the mountain, which is the agreed strike point.

"_They can't expect us to keep up with the Galms, can they?" _

"Can the chatter, focus on the targets."

Cipher banks the jet downward like before and takes out a handful of SAM sites hidden among the rubble in the lowlands between the peaks. More 'winders' are let loose into the approach bunkers to rip apart the RPG positions. The AA guns and pillboxes open fire once alerted to the mercenary strike force. They definitely were alert to Area Gate's fall and had no intention of being next. Cipher's Falcon heads straight towards the control tower aka the Keep. She mixes machine gunfire with sidewinders, which is an unexpected combination to some. Stone chunks of the Keep start breaking off and dropping to the ruins below it.

Pixy and the others turn their attention to the AA and SAM positions on the fortress walls. Cipher's jet pivots to the right and barely avoids scrapping the undercarriage along the crumbling masonry that used to be the Keep's cylindrical outer barrier. Anyone inside would have probably been killed instantly either by the bullets or the missiles. The nerve center for Glatistant's communications is now cut off as planned, but there's still plenty of entrenched enemies as well as a smattering of enemy fighters high in the clouds. The Belkans would scramble all the birds they have got even the agile VTOLs, which can easily outmaneuver fighter jets by design though by pilot is another story.

"_Cooperate with all areas and take out those planes!"_ orders Glatistant Control.

It is the last message gotten out by the Keep before it really starts to come crashing down. All the 'winders' and machine gunfire by Cipher had really brought the house down. The tower itself was already centuries old and in one of the most inhospitable climates known to humanity. How the Belkans even built something up here is astounding, but Belkans if nothing were resourceful in frosty environments.

"_Area Wall will not lose!"_ vow Wall RPG bunkers.

Cipher and Pixy start weaving about the remaining AA guns, RPG approach bunkers, and pillboxes to take them out.

"So they hollow out a mountain to make a base," notes Pixy.

"Apparently, mop up here, we have to move to the other sectors soon before our fuel runs dry or we run out of ammo then have to pull back to rearm if necessary," remarks Cipher.

"You sound like you are in a rush to get this over with," responds Pixy.

"Sooner they go quiet, sooner we are heading back to base," replies Cipher.

"Roger that… by the numbers."

Burst machine gunfire against AA guns, 'winders' against pillboxes and approaches. IFF blips disappear within minutes and soon first fighter contacts of the gray twilight appear in the overcast above them. Cipher heads skyward. She switches to special ammo XMMAs. The bogeys overhead are MiG-29A's, which while highly maneuverable even in this weather, still cannot outrun XMAAs at close range in theory.

"Fox three, double time," alerts Cipher.

"Those guys can dodge them, well unless you get almost too close for comfort," quips Pixy.

The lead MiG goes down in flames seconds later. The second less than a minute after that and the third manages to stay out of Cipher's firing zone except instead she hammers away at the third with machine gun bursts and a single 'winder.

* * *

"_Abandon Antiaircraft bunkers in Area Wall. There's nothing left to use there now!"_

It is time to move to another sector so Cipher leads the way to Area Tower. This is area is made up vertical towers that built several centuries after the ones in Area Gate and Area Wall so the walls are harder to breach giving any enemy positions better fortification. However hit the walls hard enough and they should break like all the others.

"Watch your six Buddy, they have got AAs and SAMs all over this sector. Already getting warning lights on my display target and weave okay?"

"Roger that Pixy, Cipher engaging new targets. Use the guns, save missiles for enemy fighters."

"Copy that… engaging again!"

The antiaircraft spread follows Cipher as she hammers away at the imposing tower at the center of the air defense pickets.

"_**Don't worry about the fires! All available forces mobilize, get out there and defend what's left of Glatistant!" **_

The Galms crisscross firing their guns away at the tower, but the initial assessment of the tower's durability it will require several tight passes to cripple the tower's defenses especially with emplacements targeting the Galms from the ground.

"_**What's happening to Section 3? Haven't communications been restored yet?!"**_

The gun operators below are panicking because the only thing that breaks the silence is weapons fire and they are likely to wonder how much they have left before they'll join the dead from the other areas.

"There's a fire creeping up on the explosives in that tent! Get away from it!"

Down below the radio warnings are too late as the explosives go up from the debris landing on them in tandem with the already burning fires. Heat and rupture equals massive boom. Cipher looks away not wanting to wager how many Belkans just died down there. The difference with wrecking enemy birds was either the plane blows up, crashes down, or the pilot ejects before the craft becomes their coffin or pyre.

"_Guns mounted on ruins? This fortress has everything!"_

Cipher attempts to ignore the constant droning of the warning alerts and the sound of the Falcon's engines. One by one the SAM sites disappear off the radar only to become torch lights atop the lower towers several dozen feet below the top of the ruined central towers.

"_You expect us to get through this AA fire. You've got to be kidding!"_

"Stop complaining and do the job we are being paid to do!" snaps Cipher.

Cipher turns her frustration with the Ustian pilots on the remaining SAM emplacements, which ignite like the rest of their dead friends. Sidewinder count is down to somewhere between two and three dozen. The special weapons are still aplenty and there's more than enough bullets left in the machine gun so it is time to work the gun some more just to save missiles for later. The Falcon pivots left to right and back again as machine gun bursts splatter against the AA guns, which the only emplacements left for the Tower until even they fall silent.

"_**Area Tower attack powers have failed! "**_

It is essentially a pattern hit and run strategy, which means disable as much as possible to the extent that the Belkans will retreat after the assault ends.

"_How much do we have to blow up for this to end? It doesn't look like things will calm down any time soon."_

"I think they expect us to kill as many Belkans as possible and then send us out again to wipe out the stragglers," snorts Pixy.

Cipher says nothing this time as if the sinking suspicion that Pixy was right about the desperation that is taking over those in charge of the board on both sides.

"_80% of enemy positions are under our control. It's time to rock and roll! All planes, eliminate Glatistant!" _instructs Eagle Eye.

This can't simple be revenge for the Blitzkrieg, but then the Belkans struck without warning so now the Allies with Ustio in the lead are returning the 'favor'. They don't want anyone retreating, they want them dead, but these birds are only carrying so much ammo, once empty planes have to cross the return to line to rearm and resupply, even with that down time, they would still be back to finish the job.

"Fox Three!" alerts Cipher.

The homing air-to-air missile would lock onto to select bogey then chase it down so unless the pilot is in sharp he or she will be blown up on impact unless said pilot pulls the handle though bailing out in this weather is suicidal between the weather and the wind.

A pair of MIR-2000Ds erupts in flames. The Ustians congratulate Cipher's marksmanship, her hesitation is dissipating, but she had kept her cool mostly. The Ustians and the Allies were again content to shoulder much of the killing to the Demon Lord aka Goddess of War aka Cipher. Pixy felt indescribable to witness her in action time and again yet he could see what the killing is doing to her. How could she explain what she had done in war to her son, would he ever understand, would he follow in her footsteps, on some level he suspects she would not want her little boy becoming a fighter pilot. She had her rules just as their paying superiors had theirs.

_Survive to kill again or kill again to survive to kill more? Is there a difference? _

It was best to put such thoughts aside until after this mission is over. Several Allied jets are pulling southward to the O.A. Return Line. They weren't precision shooters like Cipher at not least to Pixy and just maybe Cipher would mop up before they got back. He didn't like shooting at his fellow Belkans, but they chose to follow the extremists to open war on multiple fronts for the sake of resources again.

"_**No matter how many we shoot down, they keep coming! How many fighters did they send here?"**_

"Enough to burn and bury you here," murmurs Cipher sadly.

"_I'm in trouble here! I can't evade all this at once!" _

The Ustians were getting massacred while the Allies head back to rearm.

"_Our escort planes were taken out by a chopper!"_

Pixy felt glad nobody could see the disbelief when he heard an Ustian say this. The feat is not impossible, but even so, a fighter pilot should be able to avoid that kind of killing blow.

"_I can't bail out! It's hell out there! I don't wanna die!"_

Another pilot's panic chatter indicates his plane is too banged up to get back and his ejection handle is likely broken from the fighting. If the enemy doesn't pick him off, the weather will ice his engines, and he'll die the bird hits something either in the air or on the ground. The Allies had been shadowing them the whole way, but they didn't actively attack Glatistant, they just put the mercenaries in front, so many times in history once a civilization employs mercenaries, then you know how far it has fallen.

However Ustio was a mere republic less than a decade old with this war, but other fledging nations had been torn into wars before, the only question is would Ustio survive it or perish, only time would tell on that count.

Cipher flies among the Ramparts sniping AA guns along the walls, which are slowing up between the cold and the wind though before long even Cipher's jet would suffer the effects of the cold if she didn't keep accelerating every so often to melt off the ice.

"_**Send out the fire control team! A fire's closing in on the ammo bunker! Hurry!"**_

Ivrea is Glatistant's tomb and the once unbroken Hydrian Line would shatter before this day ends.

"_**One of those fighters is amazing. Who is that guy?"**_

The AA gunners in the Ramparts are almost sound as if they are gawking at Cipher's finesse in her bird. These men weren't afraid, they act as if they are watching something beautiful unfold before them, it is almost as if dying up here didn't bother them anymore so long as they had one truly beautiful moments before they meet their ends.

**_"I don't plan on getting buried in a heap of ruins."_**

So much for poetry it would seem thinks Pixy. They had their moment, now it is time to fall back, and everyone's reserves are almost gone except the Allies are returning with full tanks and weapons. They would do mop up, but Cipher is leaving until the battle is done, she is always doing that, he knows that about her too well.

"_**The walls are coming down. It's all over for us."**_

The Belkans were too scattered trying to suppress fires across the entire layout of Glatistant. Those stuck behind the crumbling walls have no way out. The Ramparts would just be another mass grave on Mount Ivrea. How many battles in how many wars had this mountain seen, likely too many to name and each of them saw higher Belkan fatalities with each clash or at least that's what some might suspect about these ruins.

"I'm out missiles. These walls are too tough to breach with just machine guns. Fall back, rearm," orders Cipher.

"Right, not like the Oseans are going to do anything except play raider with any left over bogeys," responds Pixy.

The fly back takes up to twenty minutes even with afterburners then the crews work quickly to reload the missile compliment figuring it of the utmost need that the Galms get back on the double. Cipher does her best to smile at them despite how many men or women like them she had probably killed in the last few hours. The maintenance crews practically worship her because they believe they owe their lives to her because she kept the Belkans from destroying their airfield and some had come along from Valais.

* * *

Pair of MiG-29s was waiting for them in the sky over the crumbling ramparts so Cipher clips them with a spread of XMAAs, which tear the MiGs apart before they can dodge. Heat source homing at its very best and then Cipher goes below to collapse the Ramparts with a couple of 'winders. There are practically no active IFFs on radar now. Cipher disconnects her helmet mike unless Pixy misunderstood the noise over the plane to plane comlink for a few moments then he hears it turn back on. It didn't take much guessing as to why she might have wanted to switch it off.

"_Glatistant attack power neutralized. All planes RTB,"_ radios Eagle Eye.

"Roger, all planes we are pulling back," orders Cipher.

There's a faint glow in the sky. It is too brief yet it does not go unseen.

"What was that light?" wonders Pixy.

"I don't know, but I don't intend to stick around here to find out," remarks Cipher.

"You really went on a rampage today buddy," chuckles Pixy.

"I just want to end this war and go home," continues Cipher.

"At the rate this is going, I wonder how many of us will get that luxury," remarks Pixy.

"So I guess you think the nuclear inspection story is still bogus?"

"Don't you? We just whittle through a mountain base just to make an in-road for the Allied Ground Forces. Nothing more, nothing less," assures Pixy.

"What about the brass' intelligence?"

"Hell, if I know, it wouldn't be the first time somebody got the wrong story, but I get the feeling nobody will win this one, and that light I just saw is just the start of our troubles up here."

There's an indescribable feeling that Pixy would subscribe to the sound of her voice as if she is demanding reassurance that the nuclear weapons production is a fabrication to scare them, but Pixy knows better than to lie to his wing-woman. She is always honest with him and he could do no less towards her. The weapons were moved, somehow he felt sure of that, but as to where, that is the problem especially if those still loyal to the Party got desperate to kick the Allies back out the door. The question beyond that is who would die for that act of desperation when such a call gets made.

* * *

Location: Birneheim, Belka | Date: September 24, 2005

There was not much to see of Glatistant from the air. The ruins are open wounds like so much else in Belka. A country split many times by war and each generation seems to inherit this legacy for warfare as if unable to find a lasting peace. There is no way to know how long it will be until they try again, but it is obvious they would have to find a different way to do it should they attempt, it seems almost certain that they would, but optimism never did much harm. Birneheim is part of a series of towns that are devoted to reclaiming lands devastated by war and turn them into something that gives life rather than takes it. One such individual living all the way out here is Dietrich Kellerman formerly the Silber Team commander.

Kellerman is a veteran in every sense of the world having previously served the Belkan Air Force thirty years prior then he went into retirement before the outbreak of the Belkan War though once his country went to war again, so did he, if only to teach his students how to survive when he felt as if their new leaders found this new generation expendable to war.

Before his first retirement he was director of a special air force academy called "Kellerman Institution". He was training the pilot cadets before he was recalled to active duty.

As a man of few words, his flying did the talking for him. He flew a F-4 E Phantom II, his fellow Silbers flew the F-16C Fighting Falcons. Pictures of the planes show them as having silver zebra paint jobs, which explains the origins of the team name perhaps. Kellerman's soft speaking voice had made it compulsively necessary to me to find time to stop over at his farm before going onto Schayne Plains and Tauberg. I was simply following her path and looking for those who had flown in the skies with her regardless of what side they on back then. It was a contradiction to see green fields after seeing nothing but city skylines or devastated earth since crossing the border. He was out in the fields when I found him. For a man his age he is in remarkable shape, but maybe becoming a farmer had gave him something flying never could though this is just an assumption on my part.

We went inside and I set up the camera. I usually don't ask many questions, he knows why I have come, I'll let him do the talking, usually I leave the words to them and then provide some kind of context from who he was during the war.

"She was good. From what I'd heard about her, I thought she was just a young mercenary. But she'd matured since then."

All the tools, the implements, and more sit in the storage shed near the ranch house. It felt like peace here, it smells like it too, but maybe its just because of him, he had become a creator as a farmer at least to me.

"She still wasn't perfect, but I could see he had come a long way towards understanding the rules of combat."

It was something few had spoken of so far, rules of combat, Larry, wrote quite clearly that she was bound by rules of some kind, and that Glatistant was the first of many behind the lines tests on her principles. I'd imagine as a mother, she might have thought how she could go back to being a mother after killing so many who might never see their kids again or for that matter have kids of their own. I was seeking the woman behind the legend and with each step I felt closer to her though she was still beyond my reach for now.

"What's important on the battlefield is to let go of your hate, to survive, and adhere to the rules you've set for yourself. These are the rules I've taught my students. And when I saw her, I could tell my time was done. A new generation had inherited the sky. There was no need for an old soldier like me."

I could tell why his students must have revered the man, he spoke of ideals and rules to be upheld, because how else could he have made it here?

Others likely had their own ways, but he seems more at ease than Rainier to me.

"What made you decide to become a farmer?"

"I already was something of a gardener for years I just took it further because it was time to stop teaching others how to survive and kill enemies they would probably never meet face to face. Simply I tired of continuing like that, farming brings me joy though my memories will always be sad. So I gather you have spoken to others who are still around."

"I am planning to meet Dmitri Heinrich in Lichtenburg. I already saw Rainier Altman in Directus less than two weeks ago. Altman is working as a writer there, he married a Ustian nurse after the war, they seem happy together, but Altman appears to remain troubled by his wingman's death after all these years."

"Unsurprising because when you fly with someone for a long time, you develop bonds with them that run deeper than you know and when they die while you survive... it stays with you forever. So where will you be staying until going to Lichtenburg?"

"I'd like to stay here for a few days if you don't mind the company."

"Well I cook what I grow so it'll give me the chance to test my home cooking on you."

"Sounds wonderful to me."

Kellerman already makes me feel at ease, I'd imagine his students felt the same way towards him. I see several photograph frames hanging off the wall.

"Who is that?"

"A woman and her son. They had come to stay with me after the war. She said her husband was shot down over B7R presumably. The place was a death trap, I don't know if he survived, she didn't seem to know either. She hid her accent pretty well, but I could tell she was Yuktobanian."

"How's that?"

"She had the darkest hair I had ever seen plus her complexion was quite faint for someone looking to pass herself as an Osean. Plus once or twice I heard her say something in her native tongue to her son."

"She tell you her name?"

"I didn't ask and she didn't tell... I left it at that."

"What about the boy?"

"He was her kid though I think he probably took more after his father than her with his looks."

Kellerman goes to prepare for dinner and I had to wonder what if 'Cipher' had been here before, what if she had come back to these places after the war though it wouldn't surprise me if she did... so I just keep following the trail in the hopes that it would lead me to her.

* * *

A/N 1: Set mostly during Operation: Hellbound. I tried to craft it more through a cockpit point of view than with previous chapters. Essentially more dialogue with them talking about weapons used by their planes as well as what some of those weapons do to their targets. I'm learning as I go when writing for dogfights or fighter jet pilot POV.

A/N 2: Also went far to build the atmosphere of what it would be like to be flying over Mount Ivrea as well as back story to the history of Glatistant during preceding centuries in relation to the Principality of Belka's continuing fixation with war, which historically they tend to lose repeatedly yet nothing stops them from going on the offensive again.

A/N 3: Foreshadowing of upcoming missions by way of the bright light seen by Pixy and the talk about Belka having possibly built up a nuclear stockpile. What I think happen is that the Belkans got wind of this operation and moved everything northward yet left the outpost standing to generate the illusion that the weapons were still there.

A/N 4: Finally introduced this idea I was thinking of when I started this story in regards to Cipher after the war. Where did Cipher go, did she ever meet the pilots that Brett interviews, and more so in the case of this story how does the legend affect Cipher as a woman and as a mother.

A/N 5: Enter Dietrich Kellerman, he is my favorite of all the interviews in the game. I also put a further spin on why he goes on to lead Silber Team as he doesn't share the expendable view that some hold for the pilots. It is part of why I think he taught his rules about letting go of hatred in order to survive.


End file.
